


Daddy DiNozzo

by laFluff



Category: NCIS
Genre: Family, Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-06
Updated: 2012-07-30
Packaged: 2017-11-09 07:13:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/452761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laFluff/pseuds/laFluff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony’s best friend has recently died and made Tony the legal guardian of Evie, her six-year-old daughter.  DiNozzo rises to the challenge of fatherhood, with a little help and a little hindrance from the team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: NCIS and its characters do not belong to me, this was just written as a bit of fun.   
> Set sometime after beginning of season nine.   
> All feedback welcome good, bad, constructive… everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Tony DiNozzo met Eleanor Victoria Elizabeth Reid (known to most as Evie) on a wet and windy day in May. She was six years old. 

Evie’s mother was a soldier in the British armed forces, a strong, forceful yet reserved woman who was an old friend of Tony’s from his days spent in the UK with his mother’s family. 

Evie’s father, also a soldier, had died a four years before in Afghanistan. Evie didn’t remember him.

Evie herself was a quiet yet brilliant child, with an IQ of more than one-seventy and the reading and conversational age of a young-adult of eighteen. Emotionally however Evie was brittle, she had her mother’s reserve and didn’t like strangers, especially disliking physical contact or proximity to people until she knew them well. 

Unfortunately, Evie’s mother was ill with a severe form of bone cancer and was running out of time. Due to a lack of any family of her own, she turned to Tony. She called him to the UK to introduce him to her daughter and ask him to care for Evie after her death.

From the beginning, Evie and Tony loved each other, she allowed him into her personal space much faster than she had with anyone else, and he made her laugh and play, as any normal girl of six should. Tony’s usual discomfort around small children did not apply where Evie was concerned, she was so intelligent, so quick and had such a dry sense of humour he unthinkingly treated her as he did all of his close friends and she responded well to his unthinking affection. 

In September of that year, Evie’s mother died and Evie moved to DC to live with Tony DiNozzo, who now went proudly by the new name of ‘Daddy’.

Tony decided not to inform his team immediately, he knew they would be keen to get involved with Evie but she was too fragile after her mother’s death and he wanted some time to settle into his new role as a parent before introducing her to his surrogate family.

The team noticed a change in DiNozzo over the following months, he stopped coming into the office at night, he stopped playing the fool so much, finished his work more quickly and left the yard early whenever he could. He stopped talking about the flame of the moment and his nights out with Ziva, McGee and Abby reduced in frequency dramatically.

He stopped going to Gibbs’ for cowboy steaks and beer, or to sit in the basement while his boss laboured on the latest woodworking project.

He didn’t join Gibbs for Christmas.


	2. Chapter One: In the Basement with Beer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DiNozzo thinks it is time to move on from NCIS so he can spend more time with his daughter, Gibbs doesn't want him to leave...

Gibbs heard his front door close and was surprised to see DiNozzo rather than Fornell come down the steps and join him in the basement.

“Hi boss.” 

Gibbs grunted in welcome and held out a jar in invitation, “Drink?”

“No thanks boss, just came over to give you some news, wanted you to hear it from me.”

“Done something you shouldn’t have DiNozzo?” Gibbs queried with a raised eyebrow.

“Depends on your point of view boss,” he paused, “I’m going to hand my notice in first thing on Monday. I’m leaving NCIS.” 

Gibbs put his bourbon jar down carefully and considered his 2IC carefully, “Something wrong? Anything happened?” He sounded genuinely and deeply concerned.

“No boss, nothing wrong. I have just decided that I want more… balance in my life. Less work, more free time.”

“But you love your job DiNozzo.”

“I do but it’s not the most important thing in my life, or at least it shouldn’t be. Like you said before, I don’t want to settle for anything less than what I know will make me happy.” His tone was calm and confident, which assured Gibbs of his sincerity more than the words themselves could. 

“There is nothing I can do to persuade you to stay?”

Tony smiled, a rare sincere smile that Gibbs had seldom had the privilege of seeing and that strange self-confidence that had begun to epitomise DiNozzo in recent months shone through the expression as clear as day. “I’m afraid not, but Chicago isn’t that far away, I promise I’ll visit.”

“Chicago!” Gibbs barked, “You’re going to Chicago?”

“Yeah boss, Chicago PD have an open Captain spot in Homicide, it’ll be all paperwork and politics but it’ll be a lot closer to the nine-to-five gig I’m looking for than the MCRT ever could be.” He smiled again at Gibbs’ who actually looked mildly shocked, a significant reaction for the normally inscrutable man, “Like I said, I’ll visit. Or you can come up, do some sailing on Lake Michigan.”

Gibbs looked at Tony for a long moment, searching his face for something and coming up short. “You’re going to Chicago, and there is nothing I can say or do to get you to change your mind?”

Tony just shook his head still smiling slightly then froze in surprise when Gibbs moved closer, grasped the back of Tony’s neck in one strong hand, reached up and kissed him softly, full on the lips.

“I love you Tony, please, don’t go.” Gibbs voice was quiet but steady.

Tony took a step back and sat heavily down on the basement steps, “Wha..What? Why? What?” He floundered.

More than a few inappropriate jokes about having finally rendered DiNozzo speechless flashed through Gibbs’ head but he squashed the impulse to voice them. “Figured it was now or never,” he responded in the same quiet voice. 

Tony just sat dumbstruck, all thought processes temporarily shut down. He didn’t know what to say or what to do, he didn’t even have the capacity to compare this suddenly surreal situation with a movie. “I need a beer. And can we back-up and rewind ‘cause I feel like I’m in the twilight zone or something.” 

Gibbs huffed in amusement but in acquiescence to DiNozzo’s request pushed past the younger man and headed up the stairs to fetch him a beer from the kitchen. When he returned with the drink, Tony had not moved and still sat mostly unresponsive on the basement steps.

Handing the beer over to the younger man Gibbs moved to lean against one of his workbenches, “I suppose I should be glad you didn’t run for the door screaming.” He said with a wry smile.

That jerked DiNozzo out of his funk, “What? No! I wouldn’t…” He petered off and took a long drink from his beer before levelling a long calculating look at his boss. The scrutiny made Gibbs hunch his shoulders slightly and his face close off in anticipation of the rejection he knew was coming. 

Tony noted the subtle changes in Gibbs’ body language and in a characteristic impulsive move, stood, walked straight over to his boss and enfolded him in a hug. His long arms wrapped securely around Gibbs’ shoulders and taking advantage of his superior height, he used one hand to bring Gibbs’ head to rest on his shoulder and hold it there. Gibbs slowly relaxed into it, deciding to enjoy the unexpected contact while he could.

“Well boss, not too sure what to do with that information,” began DiNozzo in a cheerful voice. “In fact, seem to have lost the ability to string two thoughts together, but… I do love you boss, always have. Not sure I mean it in the same way…” he trailed off before he could begin to Abby-babble. 

Gibbs couldn’t help but laugh into Tony’s shoulder, “Don’t think that calling me boss is all that appropriate right now DiNozzo.”

“Point,” Tony acknowledged. “Jethro… y’know that sounds really strange coming from me,” he complained. “I’m just gonna call you Gibbs” 

Gibbs raised his head startled, and replied in a slightly strangled voice, “You can call me anything you like,” as his thoughts wandered back to his first conversation with Shannon when she had said the exact same thing.

Tony shot him a funny look but continued, cataloguing but not mentioning his boss’ strange response. “Right then. Gibbs, will you be around tomorrow afternoon? There’s something I want to tell you.”

“Yeah, why…”

Tony interrupted the question by releasing Gibbs and holding a hand up “Just a sec,” he said, digging his wallet out of his jacket pocket and scrawling something down on the back of one of his NCIS business cards. “No questions now, just come along to this address tomorrow? At three?”

“Sure DiNozzo, at three.” Gibbs acknowledged taking the card.

Tony nodded, smiled again and made his way up the stairs and out of the house, leaving Gibbs to his sanding, although the older man doubted he would find any peace or rest in the activity tonight.


	3. Chapter Two: Gibbs Meet Evie, My Daughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs meets Evie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I posted the first chapter, I asked if anyone was interested in reading the story, thanks for all of your kind comments and reviews, consider the hint taken, I will continue.  
> Having scoped out the story in full it looks like it’s going to be about 40 (short) chapters long, I will post as often as I can. Enjoy.

Gibbs arrived as instructed at fifteen hundred hours the following day, pulling his Challenger into the driveway of a large house of pale-red brick built slightly into a hill, trees and a well-tended garden surrounded it. The wooden trim was painted white, there were obvious locks and alarms on all of the windows and cameras covering the whole property. He also spotted a swing-set and a netted trampoline to one side as he made his way up the steps to the front door.

Gibbs hadn’t slept well, the scene in his basement and Tony’s reaction to the kiss replaying over and again in his head, he honestly didn’t know what Tony was going to do or why he had invited him out to the suburbs on a Saturday afternoon. This was a disconcerting change from his usual ability to read Tony like a book and his almost preternatural understanding of his senior field agent.

It was Tony who answered the door when he rang the bell, the younger man looked relaxed, dressed casually in jeans and thin sweater with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He had clearly been working in the kitchen as he was drying his hands on a towel as he waved Gibbs into a large hallway, brightly lit by the sun streaming through many windows.

“Gibbs,” he acknowledged with a patented DiNozzo grin, “Glad you could make it, come on through.” 

Gibbs didn’t reply but followed Tony through to the kitchen and sat when Tony motioned him towards a chair at the large wooden table that dominated the room.

“You’re just in time for a mid-afternoon snack,” Tony said, opening up the fridge and rummaging around. “And you probably want to know why I made you come out here.”

“Ya think DiNozzo?”

“Nice to see your sarcasm hasn’t been impaired boss,” Tony replied cheerfully. “You’re here because I want you to meet someone.”

Gibbs raised an eyebrow in question but he remained silent.

“Evie!” Tony yelled, “Snack time!”

There was a brief sound of small feet running and then a small girl flew into the kitchen, she looked about five years old with pale skin and light brown hair, she was smiling cheerfully and ran up to Tony to claim the glass of juice he was holding out for her.

“Evie, we have a visitor. This is Uncle Gibbs, he works with me at NCIS.” 

Gibbs was a little taken aback both at being introduced as an uncle and at the look on Tony’s face as he addressed the child, it was pure adoration. “Hello Evie,” Gibbs said smiling gently, “It’s nice to meet you.”

The girl shifted herself subtly closer to Tony but she smiled and nodded at Gibbs as she responded, “Nice to meet you too Uncle Gibbs,” in a very polite voice with an obvious English accent.

“Go and sit down,” Tony encouraged, pushing Evie towards the table where she very carefully chose a seat that was far enough away from Gibbs that he wouldn’t be able to reach out and touch her, but that wasn’t far enough away to appear rude. Tony placed a sandwich in front of her and another in front of Gibbs before sitting down opposite Gibbs with a sandwich of his own.

“Evie’s a bit shy around strangers,” Tony assured Gibbs teasing, “and she has the whole English-reserve thing down to a fine art.”

“Not shy, just careful!” Evie shot back, “and the only thing I reserve is judgement.” She smiled at Gibbs as she spoke.

The Gibbs Eyebrow was once more directed at Tony before he replied to Evie, “Good for you. Rule Eight, never assume always verify.”

Evie blinked once, “I’m not really all that fond of rules,” she said speculatively.

Tony grinned again “As well as being shy, she’s really, really smart.”

“Only in comparison to you Daddy.”

“Thanks munchkin, I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

“You did spend five minutes looking for your sunglasses this morning.”

“So?”

“So they were on you head at the time!”

Gibbs listened to the back and forth with half an ear, albeit with a certain degree of amusement. He instantly liked the girl, but he typically liked any child. In this case however he also found her accent adorable and her manners and intelligence intrigued his inner investigator. At the same time, the bigger portion of his active mind was waiting to be introduced to the girl’s mother, who was probably DiNozzo’s girlfriend and a serious girlfriend at that if Evie was calling DiNozzo ‘Daddy’. He felt a sharp disappointment in his gut at the idea and tried to prepare himself to talk to the woman without growling. He tuned back into the conversation again when Tony addressed him.

“Hey boss, I’m guessing you probably want to know how I ended up living in the ‘burbs with a daughter, a swing-set and a fish called Wanda?”

“Wanda?” 

“It’s from one of Daddy’s favourite films, it’s English like me but I’m too young to see it,” Evie broke in.

“Okay DiNozzo, Evie,” Gibbs nodded at each of them in turn, “I’m listening, but no more movie references.”

Tony snorted in amusement at this last but it was Evie who responded, “My Mum died last September, Osteosarcoma.”

“Bone cancer,” Tony clarified quietly. “Rhiannon was a Wing Commander in the RAF and an old friend from the time I spent with my mother’s family in Oxfordshire. She called me when the doctors told her that she wouldn’t be getting better. D’you remember that vacation to England I took last May?” He paused and Gibbs nodded, “Well when I arrived she introduced me to Evie, asked me to take care of her after… And well, Evie and I hit it off from the beginning, didn’t we Trouble?”

The girl smiled at Tony’s attempt to lighten the conversation and slipped from her chair to give him a hug and let him know she wasn’t upset. “Yup, I clearly have no taste in friends Double Trouble.”

“Double Trouble?” Gibbs asked, doing his bit to move the conversation on to a more positive place as Tony pulled Evie into his lap and settled her there.

“Yeah,” Evie snorted, “He’s twice as much trouble as I am. I mean I’m clumsy and break things all the time but he actually managed to blow up the DVD player the first time he came over to our house!”

“I didn’t blow it up”

“There was a really large bang and it started smoking, that constitutes blowing it up.”

“More like setting it on fire.”

“And that’s better?”

Gibbs laughed, his usually grim demeanour erased in genuine amusement, these two were funny together. He was sorry that the girl had lost her mother but was happy to see Tony happy and, although he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he was happy he wasn’t going to have to pretend to be polite to a girlfriend.

“Daddy adopted me while Mum was still alive,” Evie took up the tale still smiling herself, “then in September I moved to DC.”

“Do you like living in DC?” Gibbs asked.

“I miss Mum obviously, but living with Daddy is a lot of fun, he takes me out a lot more than Mum had the chance to, helps me with my homework, reads with me things like that. It’s nice. I don’t miss the air force bases or the schools filled with military brats either.” 

“Evie doesn’t go to a normal school here, she has a tutor because she’s so far in advance of most children her age,” Tony sounded every inch the proud parent. “She does go to after-school clubs and things though so she can be with other kids.”

“What can I say,” Evie broke in clearly embarrassed by Tony’s evident pride in her. “I’m the wünderkind.” Her tone self-deprecating and slightly mocking.

“Well you’re definitely a DiNozzo, your Dad deflects praise in exactly the same way.” 

Tony rolled out the DiNozzo Grin again, “Are you kidding boss, I love to be praised, bring on the adoration.” 

“Idiot.” Evie and Gibbs spoke together, looked at each other in surprise and then grinned in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Gibbs and Tony talk about Evie, Gibbs tries to persuade Tony to stick with NCIS, there could possibly be hugging…


	4. Chapter Three: Stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who left a comment or clicked on 'kudos'....

Evie excused herself after that, asking for permission to leave the table with manners fifty-years out of date and Tony got up to make Gibbs a large cup of coffee. A comfortable silence reigned as they stood in the kitchen, leaning against the central island while Gibbs lingered over his drink.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” 

Tony winced slightly at Gibbs’ quiet question, that moderate tone was usually a warning sign of a pending Gibbs explosion but at second glance he seemed more hurt than angry. “There’s no easy way to answer that, there’s no one single reason.” Gibbs raised that eyebrow again prompting Tony to continue.

“Evie is nervous around new people, she doesn’t mind talking to them but she gets very uncomfortable if they get inside her personal space and she’ll panic if they touch her. I needed to let her get comfortable around me and in her new home before I introduced her to too many new people.”

“Why is she so skittish?” Gibbs interjected.

“She’s not had the easiest life, she’s been moved all over the world, she never knew her real dad, she’s too smart to really identify with other children her age. It could be all of those things or none of them, all I care about is that she feels safe with me, that it’s my job to see that she is safe.”

“You’ll do good DiNozzo.” 

The simple confidence in this statement made Tony pause, gratified that Gibbs was so sure of his ability to care for Evie. “Thanks Boss,” he paused, “That’s another reason I wanted to keep it myself for awhile, I needed to work out how to be a father, my own way. I knew everyone at NCIS would want to help me but I needed to know I could do it alone.”

Gibbs head-slapped him, “Of course you can, idiot.”

Tony grinned, “Yes, I can be a father, and more importantly I want to be. She’s a joy to look after Boss. That’s why I want to leave NCIS, I want to be able to spend more time with her, be here every evening to make her dinner, read to her, play with her, put her to bed… I thought, I knew you’d understand if you met her.”

“I do Tony, I would have before I met her, but surely giving up the job you love to go and push paper in Chicago isn’t necessary? You’re an investigator to the bone, can you really sit behind a desk all day and be happy?” 

“If I’m giving it up for Evie, yes. She’s worth it.”

“Perhaps we can work something out? So you can be here for Evie and still do the job?” Gibbs was not giving in without a fight, he was willing to push Tony to keep him at NCIS, keep him in DC.

Tony saw Gibbs’ determination and had to push back, “Do you really think you would let me go home halfway through a case to go to watch Evie play violin? Or to read to her at bedtime? I can’t see it Boss. The MCRT demands complete dedication, I can’t give that anymore, Evie comes first.”

“What about on another team Tony? At least then you’ll still be at the yard, still be in DC, with us.”

Tony didn’t reply immediately, his mind dwelling on the last few days and Gibbs’ reaction to his announcement in the basement, “With us, or with you Boss? Which is it?”

“Both,” Gibbs answered immediately, “Abby and Ducky would be heartbroken not to see you regularly or to be able to get to know Evie. McGee and Ziva would miss you, they rely on you more than they know and I… well I don’t want you to go.” 

A longer silence followed before Tony carefully asked, “Are we going to talk about it? I mean… You kissed me Boss, you said you love me.”

“I did.”

Tony was rather taken aback at the matter-of-fact tone that Gibbs adopted and was prompted to ask, “Why?”

“Why do you think DiNozzo? Because I wanted to.”

“I’m having a little trouble getting my head around that Boss, what with you having been married four times and with… well with Shannon. I don’t understand.”

“You ever been in love DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked cutting through Tony’s thoughts.

“Yes Boss.”

“Can you explain how you fell in love? Or why?”

“But… another man? I never even considered, just wouldn’t cross my mind,” said Tony struggling for the right words.

“Is that a ‘no’ DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, preparing for rejection just as he had the night before in the basement. In reply Tony just frowned. “Don’t look so worried Tony, I understand you’re not interested in men, I’m not going to hold it against you if you say no.” 

“Nooooo, I’m not saying no.” Tony drew out the words, trying to understand his own response to Gibbs’ interest, “I just don’t know why I’m not saying no Boss.”

“That’s okay Tony,” Gibbs voice was gentle now, soft in a way Tony had only ever heard directed at children and on rare occasions at Abby or Ziva. “Take some time, think about it. I’m not going anywhere and I give you my word I won’t do anything you don’t want me to, or hold this against you in any way.” 

“I should be freaking out Gibbs, or having a sexual identity crisis, something, anything. But I’m just…puzzled, I was always happy when you called me your friend, when you chose to do something with me but… and last night, you looked like a kicked puppy when you handed me that beer and all I wanted to do was make you feel better, I had to make you understand that it was for Evie, that I didn’t want to leave you.”

Gibbs fought back the grin that threatened to break out at Tony’s rambling and settled on a reassuring smile instead, “That’s good to know Tony. Would you be willing to stay if we can find you something on another team, so you can keep regular hours and be home more often?”

“Yeah Gibbs, I would but… You aren’t just doing this because… I mean you wouldn’t do this for just anyone would you?” Tony sounded vaguely disapproving.

“No, not just anyone, but NCIS can’t afford to lose an investigator of your experience and talent. We need you,” he did grin then when he saw Tony’s surprise, “Not what you expected me to say?” 

“No, not really Boss, you aren’t exactly free and easy with the positive feedback.”

Gibbs snorted, “Can’t have your ego getting any bigger DiNozzo, it wouldn’t fit in the bullpen.”

This led to a friendly trading-of-insults that was comfortable and easy, they grabbed a couple of beers and went to sit on the decking in Tony’s backyard to enjoy some sunshine, talk of work, movies and sport easily flowing between them.

 

When the sun began to dip behind the trees lining Tony’s yard Gibbs stood to leave, thanking Tony who followed him to the door.

“I’ll set up a meeting with Vance first thing on Monday, see what we can find for you. In the meantime you should start to transfer some of your workload to McGee, train him up a little. I know he didn’t take on all of the SFA work while I was in Mexico and you won’t be able to pick up the slack for him this time.”

“Right Boss.” Tony responded automatically.

“I’ll see you Monday.” Gibbs said turning to open the door.

“Gibbs wait,” Tony grabbed at Gibbs’ arm and held it loosely, “If it doesn’t work out at NCIS, I won’t leave DC. I’ll find another job here.” 

This earned Tony one of Gibbs’ real smiles, “Thanks Tony,” taking a step closer he reached up to grasp the back of Tony’s head and made his next statement a question, “Tell me to stop if you want?” 

Receiving no instructions to stop Gibbs brought Tony’s head down and trailed close-mouthed kisses across his lips, after a moment of indecision Tony relaxed, hooking an arm around Gibbs and enjoying the sensation. 

Gibbs didn’t keep it up for more than a few seconds, stopping to tilt Tony’s head down and speak directly to him in an ordering tone similar to his work voice, “I’m not going to push you on this Tony, I can and I will push you to stick with NCIS, but not with anything else. Take your time, think about it.” 

Tony nodded his agreement but didn’t remove his arm from Gibbs’ waist instead asking, “Want to say goodbye to Evie? I think she took a shine to you.” 

“Sure Tony, I took a shine to her too.”

Gibbs was rewarded with a full on thousand-megawatt DiNozzo grin. 

“Evie!” Tony called, eyes not leaving Gibbs’ face, “Uncle Gibbs is leaving, come and say goodbye.”

They heard a call of “Just a sec!” drift downstairs and then running footsteps, only then did Tony step back, releasing Gibbs.

Evie came running down the stairs carrying a large roll of paper, tied with blue string, she came to stand so that she was slightly behind Tony using his body to shield her from Gibbs, but she did smile at him as she peeped around Tony’s legs.

Tony reached a hand back automatically to stroke her hair, smile widening as he registered the presence of the paper roll, “She must really like you Boss, looks like you’re to be honoured with one of her drawings.”

Evie went bright red at Tony’s teasing and thumped him soundly on the leg with a hiss of “Daddy! Shut up!” but she did offer Gibbs the paper roll with an unintelligible mumble.

Gibbs asked if he could undo the string to take a look, at Evie’s nod he unfurled the paper to reveal a sketch. Gibbs blinked, Tony had said the girl was smart, advanced for her age, he hadn’t mentioned this, the sketch was impossibly detailed, it showed him and Tony after an NCIS softball game, Tony had slung his arm around Gibbs who was grinning. Gibbs could remember the game in question and Tony’s exuberance when they had beaten FBI team to the league trophy, back when Tony had first started at NCIS they had both played regularly on the NCIS team. 

“Daddy has lots of photos in the den, this is the only one of the two of you together, there were a couple of you alone but I prefer to draw pictures with more than one subject, so I picked this one.” She explained, a strange mix of adult diction and childish enthusiasm.

“It’s beautiful, so detailed. Thank you Evie, I think I will have to make a frame for this.” He smiled at her charmed over again by DiNozzo’s daughter.

“Make a frame?” Evie asked.

“Well I can’t draw like this, but I’m a fair carpenter and I think this picture deserves a frame,” he responded solemnly.

Evie grinned like any other small child will when praised, “Can I see the frame, when you’ve finished it?”

“Sure, you can come and see me hang the picture.”

Tony jumped in laughing, “You tell us when and we’ll make a visit of it, a special opening of the Gibbs’ Art Gallery.”

Gibbs rolled his eyes, nodded to Tony, and retreated out of the door. Carefully rolling up his sketch, he made for his car and home where he would prop Evie’s drawing on his mantel until he could finish the planned frame.


	5. Chapter Four: Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for comments and kudos guys, hope you like the next chapters...

Over the next few weeks Tony found that he didn’t have much time to ponder the current situation between Gibbs and himself. Gibbs, as good as his word, had spoken to Vance that following Monday and Tony found himself transferred to a newly-formed cold case team that dealt primarily with cases of shared jurisdiction. Tony was just too busy dealing with the FBI, the DEA, the US Marshals and local PDs from cities across the eastern seaboard, to think much about anything else. 

After he had settled into his new role enough to allow himself some breathing space, however he found he was still no closer to understanding the situation than he had been back in Gibbs’ basement after that first very brief, almost innocent, kiss. He was a blank. 

One thing he was pretty sure of was his sexuality, he wasn’t and had never been gay, he paid more attention to the men around him for a few weeks and came to the conclusion that no, he really didn’t find them attractive in any way. However he hadn’t pushed Gibbs away and did not regret that he hadn’t. He took some time to observe Gibbs when he visited his old team, which he did as often as he could get away with, and he couldn’t say that he found Gibbs any more attractive than the other men he’d been watching. 

There was no arguing though that he did want to be close to Gibbs, to have him get to know Evie, to have him in his life. On a few startling occasions he found himself wanting to kiss the man again, which was… interesting.

 

All things considered, including the differences in his relationship with Gibbs, the immediate change to Tony’s life was significant, he was home nearly every evening to spend time with Evie which he found he enjoyed even more than he had expected to, the two of them together became a distinct unit, a family in a way they hadn’t before. 

In addition he loved his new partner Agent Helen McKay, a cheerful and laid-back woman in her early thirties with a great sense of humour who actually liked his practical jokes, could give as good as she got and proved to be an excellent partner in crime. It didn’t hurt that she was great investigator and more than capable with report writing and marksmanship, he was happy to have her watching his six. 

Of course not everything was perfect, he was still Tony DiNozzo so his luck just wasn’t that good. Abby had been very unhappy with him for requesting a transfer and he had been exiled from the lab for deserting her beloved silver-fox, to make matters worse Ziva and McGee had been after him for a ‘real’ explanation for his job move and were very persistent in chasing him for it when they had decided the one he had given when he had broken the news of his transfer to them was not satisfactory. 

 

oxoxoxoxoxo

 

The Tuesday after Gibbs’ visit to Tony and Evie:

“What?” McGee said his voice a mix of suspicious and incredulous. 

“Transferring to the new cold-case team.” Tony repeated.

“Is Vance punishing you again?” 

“No Probie, I requested the transfer.” Tony sighed, annoyed that McGee would assume he had done something he would need to be punished for. 

“You hate cold cases Tony,” Ziva broke in.

“But I am good with cold cases Zi-vah,” Tony replied, drawing out her name as usual. 

“Is it an op?” McGee asked, “You going undercover again?”

“No McSuspicious, just a normal transfer. I fancied a change, wanted a new challenge, name your cliché. And I’m getting too old to be running around after murderous Petty Officers at three in the damn morning.”

“Gibbs is older than you,” the Israeli protested eyes narrowing in suspicion, “yet he is not running away.”

“I am not running away.”

“Ow!” Ziva and McGee yelped in unison as Gibbs delivered matching head-slaps, having snuck up on them while their backs were to the elevator.

“Enough!” he barked, “DiNozzo will start with his new team in two weeks, in the meantime you McGee will spend every waking moment with him, you need to learn what it is I expect from a Senior Field Agent.”

“Yes Boss!” McGee responded dutifully.

“Gibbs, do you have nothing more to say?” asked Ziva, hoping that her irascible boss would be able to scare a better explanation out of Tony.

Gibbs levelled a flat gaze at Ziva for a second, then to the surprise of all (and the conversation in the bullpen had drawn a fair bit of attention from other NCIS personnel) he turned to Tony and, instead of delivering the head-slap everyone expected, his reaching hand grasped the back of Tony’s neck affectionately. “Good luck with the new job DiNozzo, I expect you to improve the NCIS cold case resolution rate by at least ten percent.”

Tony grinned, “On it Boss.”

 

oxoxoxoxoxo

 

That little scene had been serious fuel for the ever-lively NCIS scuttlebutt and speculation about Tony’s job change and Gibbs’ reaction was rife. However Tony knew that once Abby forgave him (which she was bound to do eventually) everything would settle down. Abby would stop the gossip and the questions, as most of NCIS, including Ziva and McGee, were afraid of upsetting her and so doing, incurring the wrath of Gibbs.

In fact Tony’s only real concern with his new situation was his new team leader. Supervisory Special Agent Dobbs was a bureaucrat of the worst kind, he focused more on the agencies and police departments they were working with than on the cases themselves and was constantly pushing for NCIS to take lead, even when the case in question would be better served by cooperation or the lead of a different agency. Tony and Helen were often hard pressed to maintain civil relations especially when it came to dealing with the police as all the agencies in the alphabet soup seemed to think that the police were there to at best, fetch and carry and at worst be steamrollered out of the way. Tony quickly found that he was a better negotiator and diplomat than he had ever thought possible.


	6. Chapter Five: Lunch with the Ex

Gibbs and Tony fell into a new work routine easily, Tony would still come by to deliver coffee a few times each week and every Friday, cases permitting, they took a long lunch and wandered about the capitol, catching up on sports, movies and the latest cases as the mood took them.

Six weeks after Tony started work with his new team, they went to Gibbs’ favourite diner and after a couple of burgers and lots of coffee they took a stroll around the Washington monument, alternating between companionable silence and easy conversation about the current baseball season. 

When they reached the base of the monument Gibbs paused over the reflecting pool, looking as relaxed as Tony had ever seen him.

“So, how are you liking cold cases?” the older man asked.

“The truth?” 

Gibbs shot him a part-fond, part-exasperated look, “No Tony, I want you to lie to me.”

Tony just smiled, “Boring when compared to the MCRT and Dobbs is an idiot, but I’m not chained to my desk as much as I thought I would be, Helen is a real blast and the Fibbies are a whole hell of a lot less annoying to work with when Fornell and Agent Slacks aren’t in the picture. Could be worse.” 

“And Evie?”

Tony knew what Gibbs was asking, “I get to see her every evening, make her dinner, read her some complicated science fiction novel while she corrects my pronunciation, kiss her goodnight. It’s… perfect.”

Gibbs seemed to relax even further, “The cold case solve rate has only gone up by three per cent,” he commented with studied off-handedness, clearly enjoying the opportunity to tease Tony.

Tony didn’t even hesitate, he head-slapped Gibbs growling fondly, “Give me another three months and you’ll get your ten per cent, impatient bastard.” 

Silence settled around them again as they began to make a circuit of the reflecting pool, each thinking about the changes of the previous weeks. Gibbs was smirking, smug that Tony had grown comfortable enough to head-slap him in such a short time.

Tony broke into his reverie, “It’s Evie’s seventh birthday next week, we’re going on a picnic. Thought you might like to join us?” he asked.

Tony was rewarded with a quick ‘Yeah Tony’ and an expression he had never seen before on Gibbs’ face, an open smile full of affection and he was momentarily struck dumb, “You know, you should smile like that more often Boss.” 

This made the smile widen even further, “I’m not your boss now Tony.”

“But ‘Jethro’ still sounds so strange when I say it.”

“Well you’re not calling me Leroy.” Gibbs said, his smile turning wry.

“I thought I could call you whatever I wanted?” Tony joked.

“I remembered who I was talking to.”

“Gee, thanks Gibbs”

They reached the opposite end of the reflecting pool and paused again to look back at the obelisk, Gibbs was lost in the past, thoughts with his girls and the last ten years spent working with Tony.

“I meant it,” he said, out of the blue.

“What?” Tony sounded puzzled.

“That you could call me whatever you wanted,” Gibbs clarified, “You know… I…” he trailed off not sure what he wanted to say next, Tony just quirked an eyebrow in question. 

“The first time I spoke to Shannon, we were waiting for a train at Stillwater station, I told her my name and she said the same thing you did, that she was just gonna call me Gibbs. I said she could call me whatever she wanted.” He smiled slightly at the memory.

Tony didn’t look surprised so much as worried but visibly relaxed when he saw the smile, “Something tells me she didn’t always call you Gibbs though.” 

It wasn’t really a question but Gibbs answered anyway, “No, she eventually decided that she preferred Jethro to Leroy, have used it ever since.” 

Tony squeezed Gibbs’ shoulder, trying to offer comfort. Gibbs turned towards him and acting on sudden impulse stepped closer to him, right into his personal space and kissed him, forcefully. It was the first time Gibbs had been aggressive with Tony, this was no peck on the lips and it was more habit than desire, that made Tony give in to it. 

Tony was so used to following Gibbs’ lead he responded automatically but, as he got with the program Tony wrapped his arms around Gibbs and kissed back with less and less hesitation and more and more skill and it was Gibbs who was breathless when they broke apart.

“In public, out on the street, surrounded by tourists? Really?” Amusement colouring Tony’s voice, although after that kiss Gibbs was surprised he had the presence of mind to recognise subtleties in Tony’s tone.

Gibbs just nodded.

Tony suddenly changed tack with nary a pause, just went on as if nothing had happened, the only difference in his demeanour that slight sense of fun in his voice, “So, you don’t like Leroy and I just can’t call you Jethro. How about Jet?”

“Hell no!”

“Really? It suits y…” he was interrupted by a head-slap.

“I said no!”

“Right, Right. Jeth?”

Gibbs considered his options, “I can live with Jeth,” he conceded.

“Jeth it is then.” Tony’s grin was big, honest and mischievous.


End file.
